Bornean Cat's Curiosity

Reunion

Mon, 08 Sep 2014 23:51:59 +0900

Today was kind of fun.

One of my former students, who graduated eight years ago, visited my lab, and I had a long conversation with him.

While talking, I forgot about the time.

Drone

Tue, 26 Aug 2014 20:46:01 +0900

I read an account of drones in the Asahi last Sunday.

According to the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary, one of the meanings of the word "drone" is that an aircraft without a pilot, controlled from the ground. The newspaper says that the market of drones is rapidly growing.

I learned from the article that they weren't just toys or experimental apparatuses for research purposes.

Perseid Meteor Shower

Sun, 08 Sep 2013 23:47:00 +0900

Have you ever seen what is called meteor shower?

On the night of August 12 and 13, I took a shot of "Perseid Meteor Shower" using three DSLR cameras. It is know that Perseid Meteor Shower becomes active every summer.

Here is one of the best shots I took using Pentax K-x:

Since Pentax K-x has no romote control port, I had to continue to press the shutter release button with an eraser and a rubber band. But it actually did a good job :-).

We can see a meteor flying by the famous Andromeda Galaxy in the photo above.

Equipments

Pentax K-x
Sigma 24-70mm F2.8 EX DG MACRO

White-Eye

Sat, 20 Jul 2013 23:28:01 +0900

Do you see what this cute bird is?

Perhaps it is a young white-eye ("Mejiro" in Japanese) that strayed into a building. Surrounded by elementary school girls, it seemed to be scared.

I submitted this photo to some contest :-)

Equipments

Canon PowerShot G10

Boy with Frog statue

Sun, 12 May 2013 11:16:26 +0900

I went to Venice in October 2010, when I took the photo below.

This is Charles Ray's art work "Boy with Frog" statue located at the tip of the Punta della Dogana in Venice. To my regret, it has been already removed in order to be replaced by a lamp-post.

I wish I could see it again.

Equipments

PENTAX K-x
PENTAX-DA L 18-55mm AL F3.5-5.6

Tokyo Gate Bridge

Sun, 21 Apr 2013 23:13:02 +0900

It was slightly chilly today with respect to April.

Tokyo Gate Bridge, which has a beautiful truss structure, opened to the public on February 12th, 2012.

Many people enjoy fishing just under the bridge.

Equipments

Pentax K-5
Pentax FA35mm F2 AL

Notification of grant-in-aid decision

Fri, 05 Apr 2013 23:10:21 +0900

Today was great!

I applied to the grant-in-aid for scientific research last October (see Grant-in-aid). Fortunately, I recieved a notification of the formal decision of Japan Society for the Promotion of Science to offer the grant-in-aid to me.

I'm going to do my best at my research!

Waterfalls

Sun, 24 Mar 2013 23:26:05 +0900

Waterfalls are good photogenic objects.

This is Nino-Taki waterfall in Yamagata prefecture, Japan.

It is impressive to see the water cascade from high above.

Equipments

Pentax K-5
Tamron 70-210mm F3.5

Film cameras

Thu, 21 Mar 2013 23:52:57 +0900

One of my hobbies is photography.

Currently, I have two PENTAX film cameras, one Nikon film camera, two PENTAX digital cameras, and two Canon digital cameras.

My favorite film cameras are PENTAX MX and Nikon FM3a.

These are both mechanical cameras :)

Equipments

Canon PowerShot G10

Reinstallation

Sat, 02 Mar 2013 22:37:25 +0900

It's been about one and a half months since I updated my blog last.

I reinstalled Windows XP operating system after all.

I'm glad that I can comfortably use my computer again.

Windows went wrong.

Sun, 13 Jan 2013 01:04:54 +0900

Today was a bad day.

Windows XP operating system on my computer slightly went wrong. When I try to change a file name by right-clicking, an English menu appears such as 'cut','copy' and so on, though my Windows system is a Japanese version.

I might as well re-install the Windows system.

New year

Wed, 02 Jan 2013 23:55:57 +0900

The new year started yersterday.

My family and I went to Hakodate Hachimangu Shrine on the 1st of January to hope our good fortune and health.

I felt good things would happen on my life this year as the blue sky implied :)

Equipments iPhone5

Cricle

Mon, 24 Dec 2012 00:00:00 +0900

One of my students, who is a senior class student in my university, surprised me the other day. I just asked him in our conversation:

"Tell me what the equation x²+y²=r² denotes?"

Just to give you an idea, our major is mechanical engineering, so elementary mathematics is necessary to write the graduation thesis. However, he answered:

"I forgot it."

So, I told him:

"It denotes the circle. Tell me the center and radius of this circle, then."

After a short silence, he answerd:

"The center is r. The radius is x and y."

I had nothing to say to him any more. I wish him luck :).

National election

Sun, 16 Dec 2012 23:42:33 +0900

The national election was held in Japan today.

It seems that Liberal Democratic Party (Jimin-tou) will beat Democratic Party (Minsyu-tou) and grab back the power again. This is a kind of "backlash" against the Democratic Party's maladministration for the past three and a half years.

However, I don't think that Liberal Democratic Party, as well as Democratic Party, has an effective remedy for the current political chaos because the chaos have evolved from the past LDP rule. So the future under LDP rule is not so rosy.

I'm afraid of going back to a time before the change of goverment three years ago.

Snowscape

Sat, 15 Dec 2012 23:08:55 +0900

Winter is on its way.

The world turned black and white the day before yesterday.

How beautiful the scenery is!

Unfortunately, the snow melted quickly in the rain (;_;).

Equipments

iPhone5